Carlos D’Cantina review

Carlos D’Cantina is a TexMex eating establishment
located behind The Beach Club in the heart of the clubbing district of
KL. The eatery spans three stories – there’s al fresco dining options
spanning the entire ground floor of the place, with pool tables on the
second floor and a VIP lounge in the works for the third floor.

I went there for dinner with Justine last night courtesy of Larry,
who is a partner of Carlos D’Cantina, and has been nothing short of
hospitable the whole time we were there. The dinner menu was personally
selected by him and we managed to sample the offerings Carlos D’Cantina
has on its portfolio.

The ambience of the place is great – it’s interestingly done up with
the al fresco concept obvious in the architecture. There is a huge
screen at the seating area, but the volume was not overwhelming – it
manages to strike the perfect balance between being audible and
allowing conversation at the same time. The service at Carlos D’Cantina
is also flawless, and most important of all, unpretentious, for a place
in this district.

This is Chilli cheese fries, one of the flagship
dishes of Carlos D’Cantina. It’s a hearty mixture of fries, chilli, and
melted cheese…the ground meat and cheese topping makes this a great
starter. There is a really interesting anecdote behind the conception
of this particular dish, which involves a late night call for munchies,
but it’s not my story to tell. Go and ask about it. 😉

Here’s another shot of the chilli cheese fries with flash. The bed
of fries is literally smothered by the topping; it’s one of the dishes
where you just have to dig in. TexMex food at its prime…the portion
is huge though, so I would recommend sharing this dish to reserve space
for one of their mains.

This is the Texas Chilli Dog, one of the main
dishes Carlos D’Cantina serves. It comes with fries, hot sauce and a
side of pickles. I noticed that the sausage (or hotdog, if you will) is
different from the ones I’m used to having – it’s very tender and maintains the taste of hotdogs that mass produced sausages do not have.

It turns out that the hotdogs Carlos D’Cantina uses is specially
made from a distributor – there’s no excess filler and binder in the
sausages. I liked the chilli that tops off this hotdog as well…more
meat is always good. The cup of lettuce which has a tomato slice, a
ring of raw onion, and one slice of pickle completes this dish.

The Texas Style BBQ Chicken is also another great main dish. It comes with a side of french fries and corn on the cob wrapped in foil to keep it warm.

The chicken is nicely tender, with an almost melt-in-your-mouth
texture and the jalapeno based sauce is hot, a wonderful combination.

The spiciness of this dish is offset by the sweet notes offered by
the corn on the cob served alongside it. Larry also furnished some
off-menu items for dinner, concept creations that will make it into the
menu in the near future. We also had the very spicy Habanero hot wings,
which comes highly recommended from me if you like your food hot. It’s
hot. I can take a lot of chilli. If I say it’s hot, it means it’s hot.
😉

The chilli powder at Carlos D’Cantina is home made and is a closely
guarded secret, as this “Don’t Ever Touch!!” labeled container shows.
It’s a mix of several varieties of chilli and peppers blended for the
perfect taste and spiciness factor.

Carlos D’Cantina is a great experience – the food is great, the
portions are generous and this is one of the rare eating establishments
where they take pride in the food they serve. It comes highly
recommended from me…get some of the chilli cheese fries or Habanero
hot wings to soak up the alcohol after clubbing!